Haenam-gun, First Identification of 'Resistant Starch' for Cancer, Diabetes, and Obesity Prevention

Finding Functional Food Material (RS) in Mini Danhobak... Patent Application

Selected for Jeonnam Province Future Leading R&D Project, Accelerating Industrialization

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] Haenam County has attracted attention by being the first to identify the functional starch material extracted from mini Danhobak and filing a patent for processed food manufacturing technology.

According to Haenam County on the 19th, last year, in collaboration with Chonnam National University, they conducted a standardization project for agricultural product processing technology and confirmed through research on functional food material application technology for local agricultural and specialty products that mini Danhobak contains a large amount of resistant starch.

Resistant starch is known to pass through the lower gastrointestinal tract without being broken down by digestive enzymes in the human body and promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestines.

It not only restores damaged cell DNA to normal, suppressing the occurrence of colon cancer, but also is metabolized slowly in the body, interfering with the absorption of digestible starch, thereby showing effects in preventing diabetes and obesity, rapidly emerging as a functional food material.

The research results showed that Danhobak had the highest content among the studied crops, with resistant starch increasing up to 51.4?54.7% depending on the variety when heat and moisture were applied.

In particular, Haenam County has filed patents for methods of manufacturing Danhobak starch with increased resistant starch content and Danhobak powder manufacturing methods, and is pushing for registration, accelerating the industrialization of functional food materials.

In this regard, Haenam County was selected for the city/county-led future-leading research and development project hosted by Jeollanam-do. This project supports research and development planning costs led by the region to create future growth engines, investing a total of 100 million won, including 30 million won from the provincial government.

Through the project, Haenam County plans to promote key tasks such as developing application technology for Danhobak functional food material (RS), studying industrial production processes and optimal conditions for RS, and preparing the foundation for establishing a demonstration test center for agricultural product materials.

Accordingly, Haenam County plans to build a demonstration test center for extraction, processing, and commercialization of materials such as resistant starch using local agricultural products, and will conduct planning research on industrial production processes and optimal conditions for agricultural product materials to be reflected in government projects by 2022.

County Governor Myeong Hyun-gwan said, “We have confirmed that our local specialty, mini Danhobak, contains a large amount of functional food material, taking the first step toward industrialization,” and added, “The commercialization of processed food using agricultural product materials such as Danhobak and the establishment of a demonstration test center for agricultural product materials will enable the agro-food industry to take a leap forward.”